Deputies enter barricaded apartment, find suspect gone

December 2, 2012|By Mark Schlueb and David Breen, Orlando Sentinel

After a day-long standoff with an armed man they thought was barricaded inside an apartment, an Orange County SWAT team used a tank-mounted battering ram to knock down the wall of the unit — only to find it empty.

Deputies responded to the Green Gables apartment complex on Via Alizar Boulevard after a 911 caller reported the man, Eugene A. Govan, had used a gun to threaten members of the blended family he was living with.

A deputy in a Sheriff's Office helicopter saw Govan enter the apartment, but no one saw him leave. Four or five children living in the unit fled, but Govan's girlfriend, Lawanda Dixson, remained behind.

Residents were evacuated, and waited more than 10 hours to return.

Sheriff Jerry Demings said deputies tried to communicate with Govan, but got no response. Finally, after sundown, they knocked down the wall and entered what turned out to be a vacant unit.

"We're not sure at this time how they got away," spokesman Jeff Williamson said.

SWAT deputies found that someone had knocked a hole through the attic firewall to gain access to the adjacent apartment, but investigators weren't sure it was Govan's escape route.

Investigators don't know if Dixson was held against her will.

"We're not sure if she's a willing participant, she's a hostage or she's not even with him anymore," Demings said.

Deputies were searching for both Govan, 28, and Dixson, 31, and asked anyone with information to contact Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS.

Demings said Govan has been arrested 32 times, has at least two felony convictions and violently resisted officers during a previous arrest.